R129...what PSI are you running?
 

Hey Guys,

I searched around on the forums and got some info about recommended tire pressures. It seems that the general rule is to start with the recommended pressures on the door jamb, then adjust from there (mostly higher). Sounds reasonable.

I got some new shoes for my baby today. They are Dunlop SP9000's. My previous tires that came with the car were Dunlop SP8000's that the previous owner ran at over 40-45 psi all around.

My rim size/tire setup is per AMG specs:

Front: 17x8.5, 235/45-17
Rear: 17x10, 265/40-17

The tire installer used the door jamb numbers on my '90 500SL. They are currrently at 30 front/35 rear.

Anyone else out there running similar specs? What pressures are you running them with? I thought I'd ask here on the SL forum to be more model specific. My goal is to optimize tire wear and freeway performance (cruising speed range: 70-85mph).

Thanks,

Warren

A couple of recent pics:

http://www.fototime.com/9548061F31C91D2/orig.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/60AE7B8638377E1/orig.jpg

sl tire pressures
 

look at the tire sidewall, air up to the max and work down from there. 30-35 is low by at least 10 psi. Als log on to tire rack's site and search there. They have inflation specs for each tire/car combination.

The lower the aspect ratio (second set of numbers 35 &40) the higher the inflation pressure needed to prevent rim damage

I have 16" 225 55s all round (stock) and run as described on the door sticker.

No luggage - one driver:

Cold temp. 36 front, 39 rear
Warm temp. 32 front, 36 rear

Thanks
 

Guys, thanks for the replies. I was beginning to think nobody cared :).

I appreciate your opinions and information.

BTW, Learoy, I really like the color of your car!

Regards,

Warren

Hi Warren

Thanks for your comments. My digi cam does do her some justice that's for sure. In fact she's slightly lighter than represented in the photo, but I like her looking like that!

What's even more exciting is that next week she's having having her bumpers and side trim colour coded to match the body (care of someone hitting my rear bumper in the car park) and so it's a real exciting week for me.....:cool: :cool:

Cheers
Lea

Warren,

I'm also running the standard 30 front 35 rear for my 16" rims.

Can't understand why anyone would hike the pressure up over 40... must make for a real uncomfortable ride. Even the petrol cap lid gives 46 rear as the max for 2 adults, 2 children and 3 pieces of luggage travelling over 135mph.

To run this on an empty car must increase wear on the suspension and other components, plus give increased wear on the tread center.

Ken Silver
--------------
~1993 SL500, glistening triple black, xenons: http://www.kensilver.com/SL
~1999 SLK 230 Kompressor, silver/black leather, CD, immaculate (my wife's)
~1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara. black & silver
~1991 Daimler, shiny grey/grey leather, best in country!
~ex 350SL, 230E, 280E, MX5 and a lot of other makes not nearly as nice.

Learoy,

Nice you can get your bumper color matching done! That'll make a real difference to your overall look. Did you thank the car park guy? :)

Ken Silver
--------------
~1993 SL500, glistening triple black, xenons: http://www.kensilver.com/SL
~1999 SLK 230 Kompressor, silver/black leather, CD, immaculate (my wife's)
~1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara. black & silver
~1991 Daimler, shiny grey/grey leather, best in country!
~ex 350SL, 230E, 280E, MX5 and a lot of other makes not nearly as nice.

That wasn't quite the words I was thinking of at the time...;)

But after a little thought (with the Mrs in the car who can see how stressed I was) I decided to pop the question to her - have been waiting for an excuse for a while now. She could see how mad I was and it was just the start of a 'pleasant' weekend away too.

So I hit her with it - "Now that I have 'significant' damage (a little scrape), I think the only way to recover from this is to have the whole lot professionally sprayed" - and to keep me quite and cheer me up (I suspect) she replied - "oh go then"..

Hooooray - the weekend wasn't a total disaster after all ;) :cool: :D

Warren,
I recently changed out a set of the SP9000s. I was lucky to get 9,000 miles out of them. They were however a great handling and looking tire for the money. I too have 17" wheels and ran front at 32psi and rear at 38. I had an alignment done (at Mercedes) soon after getting the tires but they still wore irregularly. The fronts wore on the outsides and the rears wore more on the inside. I compensated this early on by running a little higher pressure on the fronts and conversely lower in the rear and when I pitched them they were about even. Now I'm running 35 front and rear with Continental conti-tracs. They had a good write up at Tire Rack so we'll see how they do. Hope this helps, good luck.